Apple has acquired a UK-based startup called AI Music, known for its song-shifting technology that can put together a song from royalty-free music. The acquisition was reportedly completed in recent weeks, said unnamed sources to Bloomberg.
The key selling point of AI Music is its “Infinite Music Engine” which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically “shift” songs based on certain conditions, time, among other things. In other words, it can automatically create new variations of songs to present completely different music.
The startup’s website – which is now down – states how its AI algorithms can change and adapt music for different use cases – be it publishers, fitness enthusiasts, marketers, among others.
How can this affect Apple users?
What makes AI Music’s music engine even more interesting is that the song-shifting can happen based on user interaction – for instance, if you are working out and listening to songs, AI Music can automatically change the tempo based on your heart rate.
“It’s that idea of contextual AI. Maybe you listen to a song and in the morning, it might be a little bit more of an acoustic version. Maybe that same song when you play it as you’re about to go to the gym, it’s a deep-house or drum’n’bass version. And in the evening, it’s a bit jazzier. The song can actually shift itself. The entire genre can change, or the key it’s played in,” said Siavash Mahdavi, the company’s chief executive officer, in an interview with Music Ally.
A more commercial application of this concept would allow marketers to dynamically change music based on the mood of the user.
Although the company’s website has been taken down now, its LinkedIn page says:
“AI Music allows brands, developers and sonic adventurers access to our intelligent music library. Our goal is to give consumers the power to choose the music they want, seamlessly edited to fit their needs or create dynamic solutions that adapt to fit their audiences.”
The music engine could also allow you to choose from different variations of a song, allowing you to swipe left or right to hear a new version. Imagine becoming a music creator even if you don’t have the chops to sing.
For Apple, this could allow the iPhone maker to create soundtracks for several applications and services, including Apple Fitness+, Apple TV, or even the Apple Photos app that uses royalty-free music to allow users to create photo slideshows.
Source: businessinsider.in